Why isn't F1 very popular? Are they too hard to drive, too expensive? I mean there's tons of F1 fans out there why doesn't it translate to rc? Cheers

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It was always wrong for me to see a scale f1 car being overtaken by a mini, or a 21.5 touring car I think if f1s were 4wd 13.5 it would explode in popularity
Someone get on that will ya

Tamiya had a 4WD F1. It was not popular, the purists hated it because it wasn't RWD.

As an update on this initiative - in less than 10 days we have 28 confirmed entries plus 48 interested on Facebook (Facebook event link). Of the 28 entries: 10 are people I've never heard of, 2 are regular RC racers who haven't raced F1 before. I understand that 6 of these are looking to buy F1 cars before the event. So far we've spent $135 on Facebook advertising using the criteria Men aged 21-65+ who live within 25 miles of Melbourne and are interested in "Formula One". The event ad has reached 5,666 people and our event link has been clicked on 241 times (from the people reached via advertising). With 5 weeks until the event I'm very hopeful that this is only the beginning.

So RC F1 is not dead by any means. We just need to get new people excited and involved in the hobby!

Then they'd just be a touring car with a different body so what would be the point? - F1's could handle a lot more power if people weren't so enamoured with rubber tyres and lazy track prep. I've seen F1's on a good track handle a 10.5 without much fuss; in Japan they run mod so don't blame the chassis.

Mmm I think you'll find the actual reason they weren't popular was because they were noisy and slow compared to the more "traditional" F1 and if you tried to put faster motors in them they tended to destroy bits of themselves rather quickly

So the FGX Evo - have nothing to compare to nor another F1 to compare to... BUT

Felt easy to drive
very direct
Can see some parts are a little weak - ie slapped it side ways in to a barrier and broke a turnbuckle ball connection

I have since got two kits coming to me for the misses and our Son as well :) Hoping to get some racing done at tftr

Update - after spending $320 in advertising we now have 53 entries (plus another 67 interested on Facebook) with just over 4 weeks to go. This concept is working better than I'd imagined. Why not organise something similar in your city? It is not hard to get $320 in sponsorship money from the local hobby shop and I'd be happy to share my experiences.

The Essential RC F1 Big Bash was held on Saturday and here is the event report and pics: http://rcformula1.com.au/index.php/a...X-4n1_naxQNHVg

Final numbers were: 27 drivers entered plus 41 spectators registered = 68 total registrations. Spectators wandered in and out all day rather than arriving at one time. A few drivers were new to F1 and have said they will come to the next club day. We offered free test drives with an instructor (at 50% throttle) and although we had 4 people registered for this, only 1 fronted up. He enjoyed it and said he will start racing.

So, overall a successful event that has hopefully started the process of reinvigorating F1 in Victoria.

Big thank you to Dave for setting up and running the event. It was a really fun day, learning lots and checking out all the different cars.

I also had the thought today to give my final thoughts on the 3 Racing FGX Evo 2018.

End the end for the bash day I managed to get a Speed Passion SP1.1 chassis, 2 x Streetjam FJ01's and of course the FGX Evo.
I had two weeks of learning to set them up and get them working. And learn I did haha :)

The first thing I noticed was next to the pan style F1's with direct drive, the FGX was going to suffer with an on-road 21.5t motor eg; Speed Passion 21.5t
And I saw this right away next to the Speed passion. So I decided to throw in a 21.5t Team powers motor from RAB hobbies as I know it has mountains of torque which would be good for pushing the extra gearing in the FGX.
This was so true that I had to really turn down the timing on the TP 21.5t and set the power in the esc for punch to be the softest. Other wise when you tried to lay down power it just spun the rear tires. (ESC is a hobbywing 60amp stock jobby for blinky)
Since the gearing setup is fairly well set spur wise I ended up using a 36t pinion on it and set ride height to 4.5mm at the rear and 5mm at the front. Pits soft front and rear.

On the bash day I had a crack at the FGX as well as the Speed passion in what times I could pull - the Speed Passion however had medium fronts and soft rears, really should have put on the soft fronts, but in the end the best lap times I could pull with the
FGX and the SP1.1 were 0.03 diff :) I couldn't believe that - I figured the FGX was getting left behind - but nope.

I am sure with someone more experienced in on-road \ F1 setups could have got it rocking along a bit better; but for me it showed that the FGX could indeed keep up with the pan style cars no problem at all.

The FGX actually proved to be a fairly strong car, taking multi slide slaps in to barriers etc. and in terms of the build and setup - it actually gave me less problems then the Sp1.1 and SJf01 cars.
The oil gear diff the FGX has I think really helps compare to getting the ball diff just right. I got to find out how much one not being right can hurt the direct drive cars. also just how much the right spur gear with the right holes for the ball diff really are too.
Having to undo the top deck to change lipos on the pan cars vs the open slot design of the FGX really suxed lol the FGX really wins hands down for me there. Mainly because of risk of stripping out the posts. (For me anyways)

I also found over all the FGX easier to setup and drive. and for the price point of about 145aud for the kit - it makes it a fairly good choice... IMO. Could it have cut 19 second laps, no idea, Could I? haha probly not. but I do believe it could have gone faster in different hands and different setup for sure :) at TFTR I managed to get it to clock a 21.8(I think) which was much better than I expected. Could almost do a 3 Racing FXG class lol team powers 21.5t with the 36t pinion and pit tires. haha

Thanks Chris.

Did you buy Pit Shimizu 566 front soft and 568 rear soft, for the FGX? If so from where please? Or did you manage to somehow fit the F104 tyres on FGX rims? Or something else? Thanks :)

I did a fair bit of reading and found f201 and hpi blitz rims fit - but in the end I order the following from rcmart with rims for the fgx. Turns out the rears are out of stock there now too.
Ebay and others however do have them listed. I saw Pit Shimizu are going under and saw that schumacher are going to pick them up and keep producing tires. So no idea on the future for it.
That so far seem's to be the FGX's only main down fall. other solutions included getting a hex to fit the Tamy rims but the off sets all wrong.

Shimizu Racing F1 Rear Slick #PS-0568
Shimizu Racing F1 Front Slick Tire Medium #PS-0567
for 3racing Sakura FGX), #FGX-120 ,(FGX-120) by 3Racing Front Wheel
for 3racing Sakura FGX), #FGX-121 ,(FGX-121) by 3Racing Rear Wheel

Thanks Chris. Yes, I agree that the wheels are the FGX's achilles heel, unfortunately. Otherwise a very cost effective car.

Fgx tires!
Rubber Tires
Ride Japan*
No. 24005 Front - Medium
No.24006 Front - Hard
No. 24007 Rear - Med
No. 24008 Front - Super Soft
No. 24009 Front - Soft
No. 24010 Rear - Super Soft

Shimizu F1 tires
PS-0561 Front F3-Soft Grooved Tire FGX / HPI F10
PS-0563 Front F3-Medium Grooved Tire FGX / HPI F10
PS-0565 Rear Grooved Tire FGX / HPI F10

HPI F1 tires
102907 Bridgestone High Grip FT01 Slick Tire Soft,Rear: F10 / FGX
102906 Bridgestone High Grip FT01 Slick Tire Soft,Front: F10 / FGX
103017 Bridgestone High Grip FT01 Slick Tire Medium Rear 2pcs: F10 / FGX
103016 Bridgestone High Grip FT01 Slick Tire Medium Front 2pcs: F10 / FGX


Taken from: https://www.tqrcracing.com/shop/product_view.asp?p_id=2287

What size capacity/weight battery are people running please?
Outdoor asphalt medium grip
Is lighter better always?

I am running 5500mah packs - not sure on weight... about 143g?